


Deep Denial

by scrapsandbolts



Series: Marvel Oneshots [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 18:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17965493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrapsandbolts/pseuds/scrapsandbolts
Summary: Natasha and Tony were not friends. They were terrible at doing the friendship thing, and they already had a few friends. So, no, they were not friends.





	Deep Denial

**Author's Note:**

> I used [this prompt](https://corvidprompts.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/5808/) from corvidprompts! I changed it slightly, but it's pretty much the same.

Natasha and Tony were terrible at doing the friendship thing. It wasn’t that Tony didn’t play well with others, it was more that he didn’t know how to play with others. It wasn’t like he’d had a normal, well adjusted childhood, and Natasha certainly didn’t have a happy family growing up either.

So they did the best they could when it came to bonding with each other. Tony would stumble his way to the family room after a fifty hour work binge, and take up an entire couch’s worth of space, except for a tiny spot that Natasha would sit in. They would watch reruns of Star Trek until Tony would pass out and Natasha would cover him with the Iron Man blanket Rhodey had bought as a joke, keeping to her side of the couch, wrapped in her own red blanket.

When Tony woke up, Natasha was gone, though the scent of her rose water perfume still lingered in the air. Tony smiled, then got up to drink coffee and maybe eat.

“Hey, made you some coffee and this toast thing,” Natasha said, handing the mug and the toast to Tony. “Found the recipe on some health blog, figured you should try it.” Natasha shrugged afterward, like it was no big deal.

“Thanks, Nat,” Tony took a large bite of the toast, washing it down with the coffee. “Should probably get back to business, huh?” Tony glanced at the elevator, and sighed.

Natasha chewed her lip, then took a deep breath. “I need to get some new gym clothes, Steve somehow managed to completely obliterate them in the washer and dryer. Wanna come with me?”

Tony stared at her in shock, but then smiled, automatically relaxing. “I’d love to. Where to first?”

Soon, it became a regular occurence, Tony and Natasha going shopping, whether it was for groceries or for clothes, they would go whenever it appeared that one of them needed a break from their jobs.

They still weren’t good at the friendship thing. This was probably the closest either of them had come to being friends. Which was saying a lot, since Tony’s friends had either known him since college or worked for him, and Natasha could count on one hand how many good friends she had.

Today was Sunday, which meant it was movie night at the compound. Everyone went to the designated movie room, as it was the only room with enough seats for everyone. Steve would constantly sit between Sam and Bucky, assuming the long suffering parent expression while his two friends would fight despite Steve’s attempts to be a buffer. Of course, Clint being directly across from the trio didn’t help, as he lived for Sam and Bucky’s feud.

Thor and Bruce shared the couch closest to the kitchen, as the two of them could eat two whole buckets of popcorn before the movie was half over. Products of being a god and the Hulk, they guessed. Normally, Natasha and Tony would sit in their own chairs, leaving a couch for any guests in the compound, such as Rhodey, Happy, or Pepper. This time, though, Tony sat on the couch, Natasha hesitantly following him with two large glasses of vanilla yogurt and berry parfaits. As the other Avengers stared at them in shock, Tony spread a navy blue blanket over the two of them, then took one of the glasses.

“What?” Nat asked, spoon stuck in the yogurt. “This blanket is nicer than the one on my seat.”

“Why don't you just swap blankets?” Sam asked, barely withholding a smile. Nat glared at him, and he quieted. 

“How else am I supposed to coerce Tony into eating?” Nat replied, shoving a glob of parfait in her mouth. 

“So, you guys are friends?” Bruce asked, clearly confused. It was a known fact that Natasha had only a few friends.

“Please,” Natasha scoffed. “I'd sell Tony to Satan for a corn chip.”

“Last week Steve tried to take Tony's workshop blanket away and you tackled him over a desk and nearly broke his jaw,” Bucky pointed out quietly. 

“That doesn't mean anything!” Tony insisted, halfway done with his parfait. He looked at it as if just realizing how much he had consumed so fast. “When was the last time I ate?”

“Twenty-nine hours ago,” Natasha spoke faster than even FRIDAY could. “Two pears, one apple, and a chocolate granola bar. You called it dinner, I said it was barely enough for one whole day.”

“You're sure you're not friends?” Sam asked, donning his I-Know-You're-Lying-To-Me face. Nat maintained her unreadable expression, challenging him.

“I don’t do well with ‘friends,’ as you all know,” Tony snarked. “I’m certain Nat doesn’t even want me to be her friend.”

“And I’m sure that Tony doesn’t need me to be his friend, much less want me to.” The Avengers sighed, shaking their heads. 

“What are we gonna watch?” Tony changed the subject immediately. “We should watch a Disney movie!”

“Lilo and Stitch?” Natasha suggested, even though she was already pulling up the movie. When no one protested, she hit play. 

“Oh my god, Tony, that was you at your birthday party!” Nat snickered as Stitch crash-landed on Earth. Tony feigned offense, but couldn't hold the expression long. 

“You gonna put a lei around me?” Tony asked, laughing. Natasha pulled a lei of red and gold flowers from behind the couch, placing it over Tony's head. “How long were you hiding that?”

“Classified,” Natasha answered, nodding a little to herself. Tony rolled his eyes, but smiled. 

“If you're gonna keep doing cute friendly shit while denying you're friends, I am going to murder you both,” Sam interrupted the duo. “Just admit that you made a friend and quit acting like you're terrible at interacting with people!”

Natasha and Tony glanced at each other, then turned to Sam. “Nah,” They said simultaneously, shaking their heads in sync as well. “It's more fun to watch you get frustrated.”

“So you do know you're friends!” Steve shouted. “How long were you gonna keep this up?”

“Ideally, the rest of our lives,” Tony answered. “Realistically, six months.” Natasha confirmed his statement with a nod, taking Tony's empty cup and filling it again. He took it with silent thanks, and they focused on the movie, effectively ending the conversation. 

Tony didn't know how to play with others, and Natasha didn't have a happy childhood. But these two flawed, complicated messes of human beings met. Tony's friends had either known him since college, worked for him, or was a teammate, and Natasha needed two hands to count the number of friends she had.


End file.
